§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied that the techniques available to the medical authorities in Wales are sufficient adequately to identify the extent to which a patient suffers from silicosis and pneumoconiosis.
62WThe available information on Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise duties and taxes is published in the Comptroller and Auditor-General's Report each year. The amounts remitted or written off as irrecoverable by the Inland Revenue for the accounting years 1967 to 1976 inclusive were also published in Table 9 of the 120th Annual Report of the Board of Inland Revenue—Cmnd. 7092.
A corresponding table for Customs and Excise duties and taxes is as follows:
§ Mr. OrmeYes. When assessing the degree of disablement caused by pneumoconiosis—which includes silicosis—the pneumoconiosis medical boards consider the occupational history, the medical history and reports, X-rays, lung function tests and the results of their own clinical examination. The reliability of the techniques used has been shown by research and long experience. If the hon. Member has a particular case in mind I shall be pleased to look into it.